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I am having a problem with my main fuse panel (instruments, radio and water system). The other day none of the fuses would turn on even though the second fuse box with lights works fine and I am getting power to lower and start the engine. The panel is ten years old so I bought a new one and connected the lines but still would not power the fuse lights on. Any suggestions?

It's hard to say without knowing how it's wired, but my stock fuse panel was wired directly to the battery with an inline fuse where it connects to the battery. You might check down at the battery and see if that fuse is blown or corroded.



--Russ

I'll second RussMT's answer.
The inline fuse is rated at 20 amps, it's the "feed" for all of the branch circuits on the panel, nothing else.
Look for a smaller wire off of the positive side of the battery.

RussMT wrote:It's hard to say without knowing how it's wired, but my stock fuse panel was wired directly to the battery with an inline fuse where it connects to the battery. You might check down at the battery and see if that fuse is blown or corroded.



--Russ

At the start of this season my panel would not operate either. It turned out that the casing the in-line fuse sits in had deteriorated. This does not mean that your problem is the in-line fuse, but it is a good place to start.

Ray

My inline sat in a plastic case in the bilge, right where it collected water of course. I replaced it with a circuit breaker mounted aft of the galley, right near the main switch to maximise the protected wiring length.

Their is a main ground connection stud right next to the fuse panel I had the same issues last yr & it was one of the ground wires had pulled out over the stud, the eye was too big so when it was originaly tightened down it spread out & eventualy slipped over the nut so now I had one disconnected ground & the rest were lose it was the the last & final thing I checked as I did not know it was their ! took the nut off reinstalled the wire then installed a SS small fender washer
problem sovled something to check on perhaps !
J
PS I think I also changed to a bigger screw & nut

Thanks, I'll give these a try this weekend and post the results. I am thinking it is the ground or fuse container corroding becuase it did not suddenly stop working like a blown fuse would cause. One day only one light worked and then the next they were all out.

Tom - boats in this price range are wired to strict ISO 9000 DOM wiring protocol....DOM = Day of Manufacture...

In other words, the guy who wired it gets to be creative - be aware of this when people offer solutions based on their boat.

Stephen wrote,

wired to strict ISO 9000 DOM wiring protocol....DOM = Day of Manufacture...

Mine was delivered with a depth finder that didn't work. I thought it was faulty and bought a replacement. I tested the replacement in the garage to see if it lit up and turned on. It did. I installed the replacement and it didn't work. Back to the garage floor, it worked.
Turns out the fuse panel was wired backwards, Hot to common and ground to the individual circuits. I guess the lights worked at the factory so it passed QC inspection but when the polarity sensitive depth finder was connected, the SNAFU showed up.

Ken

Be very careful with intermitent faults as they tend to indicate loose wiring and loose wiring causes fires, especially if there are flammable materials or gasses nearby.
The original wiring on ours is wired wrong at the lights as the negative goes to the centre contact and the positive to the frame, it's not a real problem unless you are installing led lights which are polarity sensitive and they are wired right.
As I go through modding things have been changed but will have to give circuit diagram for anyone who buys it, but I am a sparky so it is to regs on 240v although is different in a couple of areas to auto wiring on the 12v.

Good evening! I just wanted to add my two nickels worth. If it was two cents worth, it would not be worth answering.

I did some upgrades to my lighting to add LEDs. Paying attention to previous posts about the wiring and the possibility of reversed wiring; I was not amazed when one light fixture worked with a LED bulb installed and one did not. Reversing the wiring solved my problem.

The cheap stock wiring was not consistent with the ribbed wire being negative and the smooth wire being positive. Each fixture was different. I just changed out my steaming light on the mast and it was opposite of my expectations, too.

From the wiring experts out there in MacGregor land. If you have a duplex white wire (lamp cord) on a 12v boat and one side is smooth and one side is ribbed; which should be negative and which should be positive? Since my 1996 26X was wired both ways, which way is right? I only have two bulbs that are not replaced with LEDs yet, these are the bow red/green and the white on the stern. I am thinking that the clearances on getting to the wiring on these may be difficult.

Thanks in advance.

Brad Hill
Bad Habitz
on Payette lake

My 2008 M has all marine grade wiring stamped right on the casing ! right from the factory so they have since went from house lamp wiring that was also in my 93 M19

J

Brad
HERE the ribbed wire is negative on 12v dc or neutral on 240v AC but have found it different lately as we get stuff from all over now.
FTR just installed another led board in the head light and found the little plug between the board and the base were opposite on each side so reversed the plug it doesn't fit properly but works ok.
Yeah our mac was wired in proper marine wiring but very light although that doesnt matter now as everything is led for lighting anyway.
All wiring for plugs etc I have wired in 6mm tinned.

I found a white ground wire that was not atached to anything and was pretty sure it was not attached to the old fuse box. It has a slide on blade type connector. I have the green wire connected to the positive side of the new fuse box as it was in the old and a voltage tester indicates it is getting power. Itook the red wire that has an in-line 2 AMP fuse off of the negative side (again, as it was in the old) and put on the white wire that I found. The top two lights (instruments and water system) now work but the bottom one for the radio does not light. BTW the boat is a 2001 model.

Tom - sorry I missed this earlier in your OP. The tilt/start power for the engine doesnt go through the fusebox at all, so the fact that you have no lights but still have engine tilt start makes sense.